Chapter 27: Borrowing the East Wind

  At the time when Wen Qiang was busy running between school and shops, time aunt pushed forward to this day without hesitation. With a sentence that has been passed down for generations, the gear of fate creaked and started, and no one could stop the birth of a cow person.

  September 25, 1995, lunar calendar August 1st.

  Monday.

  The long-awaited 14th Five Central Committee Plenum officially opened, and he took a sick leave with Ye Yuting, staying at home to watch the live broadcast on CCTV. The convening of this meeting had an extremely profound social background. In August 1994, a retired female worker who was considered legendary was arrested, directly implicating a large number of officials in the capital, involving the highest level since the founding of the Republic, causing great turmoil in politics. Therefore, at the plenum's preparatory meeting on the 27th, the then General Secretary emphasized: Our high-ranking cadres, first and foremost provincial secretaries, governors, ministers, Central Committee members, and Politburo members, must talk about politics. Here, I'm referring to political direction, stance, viewpoint, discipline, discernment, and sensitivity. On political issues, one must be clear-headed. This speech was later supplemented and perfected, and in November, the General Secretary formally proposed the "Three Emphases" theory - "emphasizing politics, emphasizing study, and emphasizing integrity" - during his inspection tour of various sectors in the capital, which gradually became known to the public through large-scale learning and practice activities.

  However, these are far from Wen Jiabao's concerns. What he needs to focus on is whether the guiding opinions on state-owned enterprise reform passed at this plenary session will still follow the old path. This directly relates to Qingzhou and Wen Hua's political future.

  On the 28th, when the Central Committee officially passed the "Suggestions on Formulating the National Economic and Social Development 'Ninth Five-Year Plan' and the Long-Term Goals for 2010", Wen Jian received a call from Wen Huiming at the Municipal Party Committee. From his father's deliberately suppressed tone, it was clear that he was extremely excited at this moment. The article that Wen Jian helped him write matched the "Suggestions" perfectly, whether in terms of analyzing the overall situation or interpreting policies. Especially, it clearly and explicitly stated that the main goals for the country over the next five years would be to transform the system and shift growth patterns, with state-owned enterprise reform focusing on major issues while allowing flexibility on minor ones. Combining this with the actual situation in Qingzhou, Wen Huiming's conclusions about the Qingzhou Chemical Plant were entirely consistent with the central government's general guidelines and overall trends.

  As a result, the initial helpless move became a confident and composed gesture in the eyes of the public. The article that accurately predicted high-level policies and demonstrated a deep understanding of the domestic economy was widely discussed for a long time, also adding a touch of mystery to Wen Huiming's image, making him an overnight sensation. What is most lacking in an era dominated by economics? Without needing to enter the 21st century, everyone can give you an answer: talent! In Qingzhou, where heavy industry and state-owned economy are the main pillars, at a time when state-owned enterprise reform has reached a dead end and high-voltage lines are under pressure, the emergence of someone who is well-versed in such operations is self-evidently important.

  Taking advantage of the east wind, Xu Fuyan did not wait for the provincial government to issue a document on organizing and carrying out the study of the Fifth Plenary Session spirit. He began to promote the study activities in Qingzhou city and gave speeches several times at the municipal unit's small group activities, proposing that the problem of Qinghua Factory should be solved cautiously. Before, people looked down on Xu Fuyan, thinking he was like a clown, but this time they all kept silent. People with insight could see that the battle around Qinghua Factory had changed from Zhou Yuanting's absolute advantage to a situation where Zhou and Xu were evenly matched.

  Just stabilized Qingzhou, once again dark clouds gather.

  At this point, the negotiations between Qinghua Factory and Fan Hengan have reached a critical juncture. The entire layout has taken nearly half a year to set up, with countless efforts made by provincial and municipal authorities to clear the way for its success. Just as it is about to succeed, no matter what, even if it means paying an enormous price, Fan Hengan will not let it fall apart at the last moment.

  At the time when both factions were intensifying their deployment, Wen Cang was also very depressed. He couldn't find a suitable opportunity to get in touch with Xu Fuyan. In fact, in terms of indirect relationships, Wen Cang and this secretary had already been closely linked. Whether it was Xu Yao's friendship or Wen Huaming's future prospects, they were all inseparable from Xu Fuyan. Ironically, no matter which line he took, it didn't suit what he wanted to do.

  Is it easy to pull strings and build bridges between two municipal party secretaries?

  October 1st, National Day, Qinghe Doujiang's first store officially opened. Li Shengli was dressed in a new suit and leather shoes, welcoming guests from all directions at the door. A female waitress with ordinary looks but quick hands and feet, did things efficiently without any delay, which made Li Shengli very satisfied. Xu Yao and Ning Xiaoning were pulled by Wen Chan to temporarily take on the role of welcoming guests, both wearing pink cheongsam dresses, holding a small banner that read "Qinghe Doujiang welcomes you", standing at the door with smiling faces.

  This is Wenhe Xuxia who made countless unreliable promises to recruit employees. To fulfill the promise, unless Qinghe can develop into a company like Microsoft in the future, it's not something that ordinary people can afford - the two women's worth is evident from this.

  During this period, a large number of flyers had a very good publicity effect, and coincidentally, it was during the National Day holiday, so the traffic in this area was three times more than usual. Seeing that there were shops opening, people would stop and stay for a while, especially with two beautiful women smiling at the door, slender and elegant, looking very pleasing to the eye. In fact, Wen Ze had no choice, the storefront, ingredients, equipment, and everything else had been set up, and the little money he had was already spent, some things were even borrowed. Otherwise, he would have gotten a few big drums and invited two opera troupes to perform, making it lively and bustling for a whole day, which would definitely have a much better effect.

  Li Shengli held the broken loudspeaker, still borrowed from a night market stall, mainly used for singing karaoke. He stood on the open space in front of the door, behind him were four or five red banners pulled down from the second floor, with words like "Company X", "Factory Y", and "Group Z" congratulating Qinghe Doujiang 81 store on its grand opening, etc. On both sides of the door were two large flower baskets, about one person high, which had a certain air of elegance and festivity. Of course, it was not necessary to doubt that the flower baskets were rented, nor did it matter that the banners were fake, even the names of the units were made up by Li Shengli and Wen Xiang last night as they stared at each other with wide eyes.

  Li Shengli first boasted about the long history of Qinghe bean milk, which was just a translation of the classical Chinese on the big sign in the store into Qingzhou dialect. Then he bragged that the manufacturing process was completely in line with European and American standards, with pure craftsmanship and unique taste. Wen Qian held Li Siqing's hand below, barely holding back her laughter. She really didn't expect that Li Shengli, who had always been honest and down-to-earth, would suddenly change his ways and become a smooth talker. After finishing his speech and setting off firecrackers, Li Shengli announced that all customers who came to the store today would get one free drink with every purchase of bean milk, and one free fried dough stick with every cup of milk. The audience immediately erupted into warm applause. This fully illustrates that no matter how well you speak, it's not as effective as giving away money!

  But after the firecrackers were finished, there were many onlookers, but not many people were willing to enter the store immediately to taste the fresh ones. This can also be understood, simple foods like soy milk and fried dough sticks, unless they have a very good reputation, generally people don't care which store they eat at.

  The first day of business, this is not a good omen. Wen Ze secretly regretted it, thinking of everything, but forgot to arrange for some stooges. Without stooges to create an atmosphere, it's like watching a movie without snacks, so boring.

  Just as Fang Zhen was about to make amends, he suddenly saw Li Shengli walking towards a crowd of people on the side, with a humble smile on his face visible from afar.